Top tips from the experts

Mr Clarke has been a Consultant ENT Surgeon for 24 years, specialising in head and neck surgery and with a particular interest in post laryngectomy problems and anterior skull base malignancies.

He teaches and lecture nationally and internationally on both open anterior skull base surgery and voice and swallow post laryngectomy.

He receives many referrals of patients with recurrent, large and difficult parotid and parapharyngeal salivary tumours.

His research interests are clinical, principally looking at outcomes following head and neck surgery - he has written or co-authored over 80 peer reviewed papers and book chapters.

Professor Saleh is a Consultant Rhinologist/Facial Plastic Surgeon at Charing Cross and Royal Brompton Hospitals and Professor of Practice in Rhinology at the Imperial College London. In his practice, he exclusively manages conditions of the nose, sinuses and anterior skull base with a particularly large number of complex and tertiary referral cases. Hesham runs the specialist combined medical/surgical Nose Clinic at the Royal Brompton Hospital treating the largest number of patients in the UK with cystic fibrosis, sarcoidosis and severe combined upper/lower airway conditions. Hesham is also Board Certified in Facial Plastic Surgery by the IBFPRS & EBFPRS and is the President of the European Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery (EAFPS)/Immediate Past President of the British Society of Facial Plastic Surgery (BSFPS). He is the Past President of the section of Laryngology & Rhinology in the Royal Society of Medicine. Hesham is the Chairman of the Editorial Board of Journal of ENT Masterclass and member of the Editorial Board of Facial Plastic Surgery. He is a regularly invited speaker worldwide.

Mr Gibbins is an ENT Surgeon specialising in laryngology and benign head and neck surgery. He trained in the UK and Australia and completed his phonosurgery training in London and Brighton. He joined the highly renowned voice team at Lewisham Hospital in 2012 and has helped expand the service that now includes the largest paediatric voice clinic in the country. He has published widely on voice issues in text-book chapters, invited articles, research articles and commentary pieces, has received awards relating to voice research, and lectures nationally and internationally. He is adviser to the Royal Shakespeare Company, West End companies and The Westminster Cathedral Choir. He is currently on council for the British Laryngological Association (BLA) and the Vocal Health Working Group at the British Association of Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM).

His areas of expertise include the treatment of vocal fold scars, sulci and stiffness, and the treatment and management of the professional voice user. He has a special interest in the management of the voice in musical theatre performers, with their unique combination of physical work as well as vocal range, technique and stamina demands. This has led to an understanding of how distal musculoskeletal drivers can cause vocal issues and has subsequently set up the world’s first integrated voice pathway that includes kinetic chain assessment.

Outside of medicine, he is a dedicated family man and enjoys running, keeping fit and a good glass of wine. He has represented GB at the Obstacle Course Racing World and European Championships and at the European Championships for triathlon.

Claire Hopkins is a Consultant ENT Surgeon at Guy’s Hospital, London, and Professor of Rhinology at King’s College, London. She qualified from Oxford University before undertaking ENT training and a Fellowship in Rhinology at Guy’s. She undertakes specialist rhinology practice covering the breadth of the subspecialty including sinus disease, anterior skull base and rhinoplasty. 

Her research is focused on rhinosinusitis and nasal polyps, with a particular interest in outcomes assessment, and has published extensively in this field. She is the Chief Investigator of the £3.2million MACRO research programme aimed to improve the care of patients with rhinosinusitis. Her current research is focused on the role of surgery, macrolide antibiotics and biological therapies in the treatment of CRS.

 She is currently the President of the British Rhinological Society and Treasurer for the European Rhinologic Society.

Vin Paleri has accrued the largest experience in Transoral Robotic Surgery in the UK. He has pioneered a new robotic technique to remove radiorecurrent and radioresidual cancers and is the first surgeon in the UK to perform robotic free flap reconstructions.  He is the primary or co-recipient for over £3 million in grant funding, has published over 190 papers, and co-edited the fourth and fifth editions of the UK National Head and Neck Cancer Multidisciplinary Management Guidelines. He has also edited the volume on "Head and Neck Disease" for the 8th edition of Scott-Brown's Otolaryngology, the leading multi-volume multi-author textbook in the specialty in the world. He is also chief editor for the forthcoming 6th edition of Stell & Maran's Textbook of Head and Neck Surgery and Oncology. He is an Associate Editor for Head and Neck, the top ranked journal in the field, Senior Reviews Editor for the Journal of Laryngology and Otology, one of the oldest journals in the field (est. 1887) and serves on the editorial board for several other leading journals in the specialty. He currently serves as Chairman of the research council for the British Association of Head and Neck Oncologists, and as member of the following national bodies: Head and Neck Cancer Clinical Studies Group of the National Cancer Research Institute and ENT-UK Head & Neck Society and the Laryngology & Rhinology Section of the Royal Society of Medicine.